the behavior of this bit of air better than a The solution to the flood of numbers and moved on to a new project, studying how supercomputer model. The insight was, in metrics, I think, is to take beauty seriously— deforestation has changed the monsoon a word, beautiful. not to treat it as ornamentation to be add- rains in India. It’s another ugly problem, a The cliché that beauty is in the eye of the ed on top of some base level of measurable small example of how we are unintention- beholder is, like most clichés, completely achievement. I worry that if I don’t focus on ally reshaping Earth for the worse. But there true. Beauty is not a property that something deep understanding, I’ll end up attempting is also the opportunity for understanding has, but is more a way of seeing, an orienta- to produce flashy papers and stylish achieve- a complex system, appreciating its beauty, tion. During that night when I first realized ments as quality falls away. It’s the scholarly and maybe even restoration. math could be beautiful, convergence didn’t equivalent of teaching to the test, of numbers change: I did. This, I think, is the saving grace polluting the way we learn. Berta Greenwald Ledecky Undergraduate Fellow for the applied sciences. Environmental deg- After months of guiding the Beijing smog Drew Pendergrass ’20, a physics and mathemat- radation is very ugly, but it can be studied in research through revisions and peer review, ics concentrator living in Pforzheimer House, has a way that yields beautiful insights into how we finally published earlier this year. I’ve stopped to smell the roses. systems work and fail, and those discoveries have the side effect of helping people. As I worked on the smog project, I be- gan to realize that, at least for me, beauty SPORTS is not an option, but a necessity. Before I could study the effects of climate change, or come up with a clever new policy, I had to understand the interlocking systems at Failure to Finish play in the environment. And before I could understand the complex dynamics of the Dreadful defeats—and a heartbreaking Game—produced world, I had to stare long enough to see the entire picture. Because beauty is intimately the Crimson’s first losing season of the century. related to a sense of wholeness, to see some- thing all at once is to see it as beautiful. Strangely, in my quest to be useful, to t approximately 4:05 p.m. on to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the Ivy League, po- optimize, I’ve had to slow down and look November 2, the 2019 Harvard sitioning the team for an Ivy title run. again for beauty. I’ve found that the danger of football season began unravel- But even though two Harvard defend- busyness, besides burning out, is that beauty ing. Until that moment, the cam- ers got their hands on the Hail Mary throw is awfully hard to schedule. By the end of Apaign was proceeding in the style to which Four score: With Yale’s Melvin Rouse II in each semester, the space I’ve tried to leave coach Tim Murphy’s teams had been accus- vain pursuit, Harvard’s Aidan Borguet for beauty—the creative-writing classes, the tomed for two decades. With six seconds heads for the goal line. Against the Elis, the deliberate thinking through research prob- remaining in the game at Harvard Stadium, Crimson freshman back rushed for a series lems, the math puzzles with friends—gets the Crimson led Dartmouth 6-3. If Harvard single-game record 269 yards and amassed four touchdowns on only 11 carries, a compressed as piled-up problem sets and could knock down a long Big Green pass performance that helped earn him the Ivy meetings take more and more of my energy. into the end zone, its record would move League Rookie of the Year award. Beautiful things take their own time. Math- ematics is stunning only if it is allowed space, if problems can go days on end without a so- lution. Otherwise it is a chore. I cannot even read if my mind is too heavy with things to do; focus scatters like startled birds. I have trouble believing in something called human nature. But if there is a universal, I think it is the desire to be like other people, to take in what we admire about our friends and family and make it a part of ourselves. I worry about this, because numbers are much easier to copy than subtle things like a sense of curiosity or compassion. And we are absolute- ly flooded in numbers. Most great scientists have lots of papers and citations, CVs that stretch for pages. I know I fixate on the long lists of metrics that appear next to the names of people I admire on Google Scholar, and I get the urge to speed up my work to match.

Photographs by Tim O’Meara/The Harvard Crimson Harvard Magazine 31

Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 John Harvard's Journal from quarterback Derek Kyler, the Big Green’s he elaborated: “We played really hard every would excel, with Sot, last season’s All-Ivy prayers were answered. The ball was grabbed single game. At times we played really well. punter, averaging an eye-popping 56.3 yards by receiver Masaki Aerts, giving Dartmouth Statistically we were not as good an offensive on three punts and McKeogh an excellent a miracle 9-6 victory. It was the most ghastly team as we were a year ago. We were not as 41.2 on four. Senior defensive lineman Brogan defeat in the 146-year history of Harvard foot- good a team overall. We didn’t have as many McPartland had two sacks. Junior linebacker ball—for three weeks, anyway, until it was senior starters. The sum total of that was we Jack McGowan had the Crimson’s first in- equaled, arguably, by a 50-43, double-overtime had to just give everything we possibly had, terception of the season. Harvard also forced loss in The Game at Yale that nevertheless fea- just to be in the game in the fourth quarter. three fumbles. Junior quarterback Jake Smith tured (besides a halftime interruption) a re- And I think that’s a testament to our kids. was solid, going 18-for-28 passing for 217 cord-setting performance by an unheralded They never gave up. But there was just no yards with touchdowns to four receivers. freshman Harvard running back. In between, margin for error in almost every game.” Among the quartet were seniors Jack Cook the Crimson would lose in overtime to Co- and Cody Chrest, who were emerging as a lumbia and by four points to Penn. Each Sat- The early season gave little hint that such reliable long-distance tandem. Chrest, who urday drove another stake through the heart. epic calamity was on the horizon. A squad had played intermittently before this sea- The final record was 4-6—Harvard’s first los- featuring a number of unproven players son, would finish as the Crimson’s leading ing season since 1998. seemed to be gradually rounding into form. receiver, with 45 catches. “Cody came out of This five-game losing streak, which began After a rocky 31-23 opening loss at San Diego, nowhere,” said Murphy. “He had been fight- with a 30-24 loss at Princeton, was a night- the Crimson impressively handled Brown ing injuries his entire career. He finally got mare of spotty play, gambles that backfired, 42-7 in the home opener (see “Reload and healthy and showed what he can do.” Fire,” November- Cook and Chrest also figured in the December 2019, scoring the following week, a 31-21 victory page 32). The fol- at Holy Cross. Cook caught an 18-yarder lowing week the from Smith in the back of the end zone, and team from Howard Chrest and Smith hooked up for a 68-yard University visited pass-and-run touchdown. There were oth- the Stadium in the er standouts, including McPartland, who first game between had three quarterback sacks. He would the schools. The end the season as the Ivy sack leader, with Bisons, from the 9.5. “We knew he had that potential,” said Mid-East Athletic Murphy. “Brogan gave us great energy and Conference, were great leadership.” overmatched: Har­ But what had Holy Cross’s homecom- vard won a crush- ing crowd really buzzing was the 76-yard ing 62-17 victory. punt Sot lofted in the third quarter, which The Crimson suc- flipped the field from the Harvard 14 to cessfully blocked the Holy Cross 10. On the day, Sot and three Bison punts McKeogh dropped six punts inside the during the game, Crusader 20. “I feel like we’re in an alter- with swift fresh- nate universe, the way our guys are punt- man defensive back ing the ball,” said Murphy. At season’s end, Khalil Dawsey the Crimson led the league in both aver- Jarring: As Harvard sophomore defensive blocking a pair. (All season long Harvard age punting distance (40.2 yards) and net lineman Truman Jones (90) sacks and would be among the nation’s leaders in punting (38.8 yards per kick). Sot’s 42.3 av- strips the ball from Dartmouth quarter- back Derek Kyler, Crimson senior blocked kicks, finishing with nine.) Anoth- erage distance was easily the league’s best. defensive lineman Brogan McPartland er freshman, DeMarkes Stradford, blocked prepares to make what appears to be the a punt and recovered it for a touchdown. Harvard had started solidly, approach- game-sealing recovery. McPartland led the Stradford also carried the ball six times ing Week Six with a 4-1 record. Had the Ivy League in sacks with 9.5 and was named to the All-Ivy first team. for 108 yards and another touchdown. Ju- first half provided a false sense of security? nior back Devin Darrington, playing a little More rugged opposition—the better Ivy and horrendously unlucky bounces. Amid more than a half, amassed 115 yards and three teams—remained. The first true test came the miasma, the team competed ferociously. touchdowns on 12 carries. the following week at Princeton. The de- Harvard could have won all five games—and To finish the three-game homestand, Ivy fending Ivy champion Tigers were riding a should have won three. But when someone rival Cornell came to the Stadium. The Big 15-game unbeaten streak and were scoring needed to make a play in crunch time, it was Red had upset the Crimson the previous points in droves. Harvard gave them all they the opponent who made it. two seasons. Not this time. Harvard won could handle. The Crimson actually led at After the Penn loss, Murphy pinpointed 35-22, and the stars were, improbably, its halftime 14-10 after a 73-yard Smith-Cook the problem. “Somehow,” he said, “we have punters: friendly rivals sophomore Jon Sot touchdown connection late in the second a failure to finish.” Following the Yale game, and junior Sean McKeogh. On this day, both quarter. But Smith also threw three inter-

32 January - February 2020

Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 ceptions, each of which led to Princeton since 2003. That would points. Nevertheless, the defeat yielded sev- change, again in disheart- eral positives. Cook’s eight catches and 141 ening fashion. Murphy receiving yards were both game highs. The pulled quarterback Smith day was something of a coming-out party after a 6-for-16 passing for freshman back Aidan Borguet, who had performance, replacing a nifty 6.2-yard rushing average. Sophomore him with sophomore defensive lineman Anthony Nelson and se- Luke Emge. Early in the nior linebacker Cameron Kline led the way fourth quarter McIntyre with seven tackles each. McPartland had kicked a 25-yard field goal another 1.5 sacks. In all, this defeat was dis- to put the Crimson ahead appointing but not disheartening. 10-7, but the Lions came The same could not be said about the fol- back to tie with 1:45 left. lowing week’s soul-sucking loss to Dart- In the overtime Colum- mouth. A crowd of more than 20,000 at the bia scored to make it 17- Stadium witnessed an old-fashioned defen- 10. When Harvard tried sive slugfest. It looked as if two field goals by to answer, Emge threw a pass to the right, He went thataway: With the Harvard McIntyre would hold up—especially when intended for junior wideout James Batch, but sideline supplying motivation, Jack Cook sets sail for the Princeton end zone to McPartland recovered a Big Green fumble the Lions’ Ben Mathiasmeier made a brilliant complete a 73-yard pass-and-run touch- on the Dartmouth 10 with 1:31 remaining. In diving interception to end it. down that gave the Crimson a halftime the ensuing Crimson possession, Darrington Could the nightmare continue? The final lead. Against the Tigers the senior wideout made a fatal tactical error by going out of home game, against Penn, showcased another had eight receptions for 141 yards, both game highs. bounds after a run, allowing Dartmouth to way to lose. In the third quarter the Crim- preserve a precious timeout. A touchdown son took a 20-17 lead on a nifty double re- all the way into the end zone. This time Har- would have put the game away, so on fourth- verse that finished with Chrest sailing 18 vard tried to get that extra point back by and-goal from the six, Murphy elected to yards into the end zone. But the Quakers attempting a two-point conversion, but it go for it rather than settle for a field goal. riposted with an 82-yard drive that culmi- failed. At the half it was Harvard 15, Yale 3. “At the end of the day, they’re gonna need a nated in a sensational diving, ball-tipping Halftime was a game in itself. After the touchdown to win the game,” he explained. catch by wideout Rory Starkey, one of sev- two bands performed, a group of students “So mathematically you’re looking at the eral superhuman touchdown grabs by op- emerged from the stands and sat down clock. They’ve got 59 seconds to go how ponents this season. After Penn repulsed around midfield. Some held signs reading many yards?” On the next play, Darrington two promising Harvard opportunities— “Yale and Harvard United for Climate Jus- was stopped for no gain. Dartmouth ball. one that reached the Quakers’ seven—the tice.” They were protesting inaction on cli- Using medium-length passes, Big Green 24-20 margin stood. mate change, specifically demanding that quarterback Derek Kyler maneuvered his both schools divest their holdings in fossil- team to the Harvard 43. Six seconds re- After what had transpired, you could have fuel investments. As the minutes ticked by, mained. Time for one play. Kyler took the pardoned Harvard fans for looking to The more students—from both schools—came snap and desperately evaded several Har- Game with dread. Yale entered with an 8-1 down from the stands. Several dozen po- vard rushers. Finally, he threw the ball up record and a high-powered attack spear- lice officers kept wary watch. Eventual- high, all the way into the end zone. At the headed by quarterback Kurt Rawlings, who ly the protesters left the field. Fifty were goal line, Harvard junior defensive back Isa- was clicking with a pair of fellow seniors arrested. The game had been delayed by iah Wingfield had a bead on it. He leaped— (and fellow previous Crimson killers), re- about 30 minutes past the prescribed sec- and was jolted by teammate Wes Ogsbury, ceivers JP Shohfi and Reed Klubnik. But on ond-half starting time (see harvardmag.com/ who also was going for the ball. “We had this brisk, sunny day, nobody had reckoned game-protest-19). a bunch of guys deep ready to knock the with young Mr. Aidan Borguet. When the game resumed, Harvard ap- ball down,” said Ogsbury, the team cap- The score was 3-3 in the second quarter peared to take command, courtesy of tain. “We’re all looking down to the line of when Wingfield made a sensational diving Borguet. On the fifth play of the first series, scrimmage. It looks like [Kyler] got sacked interception at the Yale 27. Two plays later, from the Yale 41, he ran to the left, cut up- twice. He heaves one up. We’re all trying to Smith flipped to junior wideout B.J. Wat- field, and scampered the remainder of the make a play on it. It takes the wrong couple son on a bubble screen to the right. Watson 59 yards into the end zone. McIntyre kicked of bounces. We wanted it to bounce down dashed all the way into the end zone. But the extra point. Harvard 22, Yale 3. but it bounced up, for whatever reason.” It McIntyre’s extra-point try was blocked. Yale rebounded, partly thanks to a punt bounced, unfathomably, into the hands of Harvard 9, Yale 3. fumbled by Crimson freshman Gavin Shar- Aerts. Touchdown! Game over! Dartmouth Then it was time to unleash Borguet. key. An Eli touchdown and a field goal 9, Harvard 6. With a little under two minutes left in the brought the score to Harvard 22, Yale 13. The season trudged on. The next week half, at the Yale 47, he took a handoff from But Borguet was just warming up. On the Harvard traveled to New York City to face Smith and ran to the right through a huge next series, from the Yale 40, he swept to Columbia, which hadn’t beaten the Crimson hole created by the Harvard offensive line, the right, turned upfield, and just kept run- www.gocrimson.com Harvard Magazine 33

Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 John Harvard's Journal ning to the end zone. McIntyre converted. McKeogh, pinned the Elis at their four. threw to Watson for no gain. Fourth down. Harvard 29, Yale 13. Needing two scores, Yale was 96 yards from Smith threw again to Watson. The diminu- Rawlings and Yale were undaunted. The the first one (similar to where Dartmouth tive wideout squirmed to make the first- golden-tressed quarterback capped a nine- had been three weeks previously). Rawlings down marker, but fell short. play, 72-yard drive by running for a five-yard got that score by completing seven passes. Game over. Season over. Mercifully. touchdown. This time Yale tried to make it a The last reception was a circus catch—yet For the Crimson there were heroes. one-score game by going for the two-point another one!—by wideout Mason Tipton. Borguet of course. On only 11 carries he had conversion, but its pass attempt failed. Har- Tuckerman again kicked. Harvard 36, Yale 29. amassed 269 yards—most ever by a runner vard 29, Yale 19. Only 1:28 remained. Everyone in the Bowl in the Harvard-Yale series—as well as those The fourth quarter began. On Harvard’s knew an onside kick was coming. Tucker- four scintillating touchdowns, one more first series, it looked like the Elis had Borguet man, a left-footed kicker, banged it to the than he had scored in nine previous games. bottled up at the Crimson 33. He ran up the right. Chrest, one of the Crimson’s surest- Borguet entered The Game with a solid sea- middle and was met in a scrum by a Yale handed wideouts, was on the kickoff-receiv- son total of 398 yards and an excellent aver- tackler. But wait! Next thing anyone saw ing team expressly for this circumstance. age of 4.8-yards per carry. “We’ve all been But the ball skittered past very impressed with his development as a him. Klubnik jumped on it, freshman,” said Murphy. “He has a natural at the Yale 47. sense of where the hole is and how to be For Kurt Rawlings, 1:28 patient. And his overall football IQ was be- was an eternity. He moved yond our expectations. He’s an exceptional the ball down to the Har- talent and a really great kid.” vard 11. Here came the final On defense, Wingfield led with eight small moment—a big one tackles, plus that magnificent interception. this time—that turned the Hill was next with seven tackles. McPart- game. Rawlings ran up the land capped a marvelous senior season with middle—smack into Har- two sacks. vard junior linebacker Jor- Despite the bitter ending, Murphy aims dan Hill at the five. The ball to rebound, using as a nucleus his return- came loose. Several Crimson ing running backs and promising defensive players jumped for it, but linemen. “At the end of the day I’m very dis- somehow—and it’s almost appointed for our kids, but they gave us ev- impossible to see how—it erything they had and that’s all we can ever Placement master: Against Holy Cross, ended up in the hands of Yale lineman Cam- ask,” he said. “We had a tremendous streak, junior Sean McKeogh dropped five punts eron Warfield at the seven-yard-line. On the the longest streak of winning seasons in Ivy inside the Crusader 20. The Crimson punting tandem of McKeogh and sopho- next play and with 18 seconds left, Rawlings League history, but no streak is linear. We’re more Jon Sot (who was named first-team threw over the middle to Shohfi for a touch- proud of that and we look forward to the op- All-Ivy) combined to make Harvard the Ivy down. Tuckerman tied the game with his portunity of starting a new streak next year.” League punting leader with a net average point after. Harvard 36, Yale 36. of 38.8 yards per boot. * * * The result of the overtime seemed almost Tidbits: With Yale’s victory, the series now was the Crimson back squirting through a foreordained. It went two rounds. On the first stands at Yale 68 wins, Harvard 60 wins, seemingly nonexistent opening and barrel- play the Crimson drew blood. Smith found and eight ties…Jordan Hill ’21 was elected ing upfield. Once again, he ran all the way for Chrest wide open for a touchdown. McIntyre the 147th captain of Harvard football. Hill, a a touchdown, his fourth. McIntyre kicked kicked the point. Harvard 43, Yale 36. linebacker from Silver Spring, Maryland, is a the extra point. Harvard 36, Yale 19. Could the Crimson stop Rawlings and resident of Adams House and an economics On the extra point, Yale was penalized for end it? No. The Yale quarterback hit Shohfi concentrator.…Freshman Aidan Borguet was unsportsmanlike conduct, a 15-yard infrac- at the four. Even a five-yard penalty for il- named Ivy League Rookie of the Year. In ad- tion that was assessed on the kickoff. From legal motion didn’t stop the Elis. Rawlings dition, five Harvard players were named to the Yale 45 came one those moments that threw to Caden Herring for a touchdown. the All-Ivy first team: senior offensive line- helped turn the game. Hoping to retain the Tuckerman made the clutch kick to tie it. man Liam Shanahan, senior defensive line- ball in Yale territory, Murphy ordered an Harvard 43, Yale 43. man Brogan McPartland, junior lineback- onside kick. The maneuver boomeranged. Darkness was rapidly falling. In round er Jordan Hill, junior defensive back Isaiah Yale’s Shohfi corralled the ball and returned two, the Elis had the ball first and quickly Wingfield, and sophomore punter Jon Sot. it to the Crimson 46. Now the Elis had a capitalized. Two Rawlings-to-Shohfi passes Junior running back Devin Darrington and short field to work with and they capital- brought the ball down to the four and back junior offensive lineman Eric Wilson were ized when Sam Tuckerman kicked a 35-yard Zane Dudek took it in from there. Tucker- named to the second team. Five more were field goal. Harvard 36, Yale 22. man again converted. Yale 50, Harvard 43. Honorable Mentions….The 147th season of Still, how could the Crimson lose? Only Now Harvard had to answer. Smith threw Harvard football will kick off on Saturday, 8:51 remained. Harvard killed off more than an incompletion. Then Borguet, out of mir- September 19, 2020, at Harvard Stadium three minutes before the Crimson punter, acles, ran for five. On third down, Smith against Georgetown. vdick friedman

34 January - February 2020

Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746